Archives

Garton on Flickr

Licence

Lonliness is unreal…

Standard

How does one tackle the problem of loneliness? Some say we are all intrinsically alone. I tend to think otherwise. We are never alone… Depression is another matter all together, but lonliness ain’t real!

When and if I feel what could be described as loneliness, I deal with it by keeping things in motion, by reading, by playing guitar, by writing, by going for walks, by choring for example. On this trip, this impromptu sabbatical, since Sept 2007, I’ve been visited by the loneliness monster more than once. However…

I’m learning to appreciate all that I see and do, the times I spend by myself, as a kind of school, to see, to hear, to articulate that which passes through one into that which may be passed on to others in what ever manner best suits at the time… being alone can be a treasured experience!

Like this:

LikeLoading...

Related

Post navigation

7 thoughts on “Lonliness is unreal…”

Consider the stars….vast emptiness dotted with burning fuming giants or the quiet dead stars, themselves to far gone to care. In this immense and immeasurable blackness these ‘heavenly’ bodies float in the greatest loneliness of all…space, multiple dimensions, unfathomable silence. Here, if they can muse, and perhaps they can, they may well ponder their vast loneliness….and yet, without knowing, (or do they know?) they exist in an invisible web of gravity and quantum goo, impossible to ever truly be alone, always and forever bonded to each other by the mind of the divine, weaving the intricate ghostly web, Indra’s Net, where each is reflected in the All, and infinite diversity arrays and expands and yet remains in the starry love from which its birth proceeded and too which its death is called.

Very curious! I spent my last night in Kalk Bay standing under the stars with a couple of friends, looking out over the Bay, and I’d said pretty much that… that we are looking at countless stars that no longer exist, but I’d not gone much further… The author Olaf Stapledon does though in his extraordinary novel, Star Maker…

Once upon a time, far from where I am now closer to where you are, I said that I was alleine. You came along saying that one is nie alleine.

I didn’t want to debate, as I understood that you meant it as a kind, soothing word to buck me up. I thank you for that and for all others.

But reading this post — not for the first time — I think I really have to let you know: being alone is not the same as being lonely.

Being alone is empowering. Being alone is an active decision. It is you who initiate the condition of being alone, because you want to be alone. Being alone is a choice that you make. Being alone is beautiful – like that picture you put in your post.

Being lonely is an effect. You don’t initiate to be lonely, it’s a passive result. It doesn’t feel comforting. Being lonely is struggling to actively seek something you will never find. In such situation, you’re a victim.

In your post, the words ‘alone’ and ‘lonely’ are almost interchangeable. In reality, they’re not.

Have I ever been lonely? Perhaps, but perhaps not. Having a schizoid tendency might mean that you will never be lonely, even when you’re alone most of the time. The difference between an introvert and an extrovert is exactly there: an introvert will never feel lonely, she builds up energy by being alone. She’s grateful when she can be alone.

Perhaps the skills of being an introvert could be learnt, as I think I did learn the skills of being an extrovert and apply it in moderate amounts. Because it’s not in my nature, however, it takes more energy for me to be one. Not that I mind. It’s also fun to butterfly sometimes.

Don’t disagree with you, T… What I am referring to is a process, is a means for combating, or rather, growing into a means by which one can use loneliness as a gateway towards unification, by understanding separation. In that, I see ‘alone’ and ‘loneliness’ as interchangeable. I have felt both in consistent procession.

Lonely or alone? I think its essential for an artist to be alone at times, to tune in and follow the muse. Like “t” I see there is a diff between alone/lonely. One can lonely in the midst of others. Finding the time to tune into oneself is the art.
Keep creating and communicating.